laeroport

Spring and Fall

Happy first (full) day of Spring! 

I'm sporting my new favorite t-shrit, featuring a rocket patch made by Kirsten, won by me as her 1001st commenter.  Thanks, dearie!  I LOVE it!

And for the fall.  I'm trying to finish some of those projects that are giving me guilt, so last night I finished this one:

This was the bag I promised as a prize for my 100th post.  Back in October/November.  So now this is finally off to Rachael today.  Yowsa!  We'll it is the first day of fall in Tasmania, right Rach?

Thanks for the comments yesterday about your projects that fall by the wayside.  My mom told me last night that she was cleaning out her sewing room and found a pair of overalls that she started making for my niece Clare.  She said they wouldn't even fit Eliot, now.  So I guess I come by it naturally. 

Short work day today and then I'm off to pick up kids and meet my oldest and dearest friend and her daughter for a trip to the zoo.  And tomorrow I'm home playing all day.  So here's wishing you a happy first day of spring (or fall, if you're in the other half of the world).  See you on Friday!

I heart mail

Do you know Jen?  She is so kind.  And creates beautiful collages.  Friday when I got home, I pulled this from my mailbox:

And inside this beautiful wrapping was this:

And on the back she had written this:

All because I had commented on this post.  Isn't she great?  Thank you, Jen!  I'm going to bring it into my office and put it up as inspiration.

And then yesterday, this haul arrived, fresh from Hannah's garage sale. 

I told her I'd take whatever vintage patterns she didn't get rid of - HOLEY MOLEY!  I hit the jackpot!  Thank you, Hannah!  I am in retro heaven!  Check out that McCalls coveralls pattern.  Tee Hee!

Others have said it and I firmly agree, bloggers are the best.

Off now to buy my Fat Quarter.  I'm thinking some of this.

Cheers! L

Happy Mail

Okay, first a bit of business.  Thanks for all the crap about the plaid pants.  :)  Let me just say I made them myself and they were one of the most comfortable and cool (as in, not sweltering) things I owned back then.  And now I dare you to show pictures of yourself from the early 90s. Ha!  Worse yet was the buffalo plaid wool suit jacket (from the Gap, no less) that I wore all over London!

Thanks also (sincerely) for the good wishes for Peggy.  She is off the respirator now and the new lungs are working on their own.  All seems to be going well.  My brother and the girls came home yesterday, but my sister-in-law is still at Mayo to be with her parents.  My parents, who have been traveling in Texas with their camping trailer for the last six weeks, got home yesterday, as well, to help out.  And to clarify, I said previously that Peggy took fen-phen but then said she was a tiny woman.  She is only about 5 feet tall, but she has struggled with weight.  I meant tiny short more than tiny skinny.

Okay, on to the fun mail.  I received this fantastic handbag from my redwork swap partner, Kathryn, who sadly does not have a blog.  She does have a website where she sells the fantastic purses she makes.  And let me tell you, this is one well-constructed bag.  I love it!  And it is a great size - big enough for all my essentials but small enough that I don't end up hauling around the kitchen sink.  She totally played down her embroidery skills in the many e-mails we have swapped, but her stitches are tiny and perfect.

Not only did she send this incredible bag, but she also included four vintage crewel embroidery kits, some red floss (for more redwork) and the lovely alphabet that she used for a pattern - in two sizes!  I can see lots of hand embroidered monograms in my future.  Thank you so much, Kathryn!  I love it all!

Of course, I'm lame and haven't sent mine yet.  Oh, yeah.  I haven't finished mine yet.  All in good time, I guess.  All in good time.

Thanks to Dorie, as well for organizing the swap and to Kristin for helping me find it.  It has been A LOT of fun!

And in a final bit of mail fun, look what I bought from Beki.  Thanks, Beki.  I love it!  This pouch is just the thing to keep me from spending Eliot's leftover birthday/Christmas/Valentine money.  It fits in my wallet so I can find it, but keeps his money away from my temptation.  Becki's got some lovely purses and wristlets in her etsy shop, if you are so inclined.

Now I'd better get back to work so I can leave early for Daisy Girl Scouts.  We're working on manners today. That ought to be fun. 

And the NPR geek that I am, you MUST listen to this commentary from yesterday's All Things Considered which likens Girl Scout Cookies to the crack cocaine of baked goods.  Have a good day!

 

Mail call

I've got things to say, things to show, but time is of the essence, so let's get to the thanks.  Fist of all, thanks for the get-well wishes for Eliot.  He went back to school yesterday feeling fine.  Tim's working on a head cold, but otherwise (fingers crossed) we've dodged the flu bullet.

But to the main reason for this post - I've gotten great things in the mail of late.

Earlier this week, Rachael sent me this huge haul.  Santas, sleds, snowmen, CDs, ornaments, post-its, holiday band-aids, candles, and a much-coveted Tord garland.  Totally out of the blue.  Thank  you so much, Rachael!  Eliot has now absconded with the snowman.  I might never get it back!

I am so happy that this blog world has brought us closer together after so many years of friendship.  One day I'm going to post that photo of you and me and Julie on your 21st birthday. ;)  Or, should I not?  Man, we were all so thin, back then!

And yesterday I received my Brooch Swap, sponsored by Claire.  My swap partner was Stacey, who happens to be Claire's neighbor.  Look at the loot she sent, in addition to the lovely handcrafted brooch.  Aidin tried to make off with the purple tape measure.  Not on your life, little girl!

Also in the mail this week was a little packet of wallpaper pieces and a little heart, from Teresa, the organizer of Christmas in Progress, and new valentine buttons from Thimble.  Yahoo!

And to see some stuff I've actually made, but haven't taken time to blog about, check out flickr here, here and here.

Cheers, friends!

I can't resist

a swap.  Kristin listed a few in her post today so of course I had to sign up for Claire's brooch swap and Dorie's red-work swap.  Ah well, a brooch and a bit of embroidery shouldn't tax me too much.  So I'm not over-extending myself.  Right?  Right?

Tonight - family dinner and bowling - perhaps accompanied by Michelle and family.  I hope!

Saturday - grown-up dinner party at my friend Suzanne's house.  I know the food will be fabulous, as well as the politics and conversation.

Sunday - a bit of sewing time, and if all goes according to forecast, some snowman building.  Have a lovely weekend!

Thanks, Laura!

Look what greeted me when I got home yesterday.

Thanks, Laura!

And all because I made her a little something when her foot was banged up.

And look what Tim found when we were sorting out some stuff in the computer / guest room.

He's a land owner!  Although is does worry me a bit that the notary date is 1962 and Tim wasn't born until 1969.

And how cute is my boy with his new haircut all spiked up ?

Have a great Thursday!

Cheers!

I'm back....

What a busy few days we've had!  Let me update you of what I've been doing since last week.

On Thursday, my mom and dad came up and watched the kids while I went to parent-teacher conferences and in to work for a while.  I got home around 1:00, we ate lunch and then took off for Atchison, Kansas and a visit to Nell Hill's.  I hadn't even thought about going until Amy mentioned it in her blog - and then I was obsessed with the idea. Of course, Nell Hill's is not a place for very small people who like to touch everything, so grandpa took them to the park for an hour while we looked.  The only things I bought were two linen tea towel blanks at G.Diebolts.  But it was fun.

Friday - boring.  Laundry, packing, trying to clean house a bit.  Saturday I was at the Arts Center for most of the day taking classes and performing in the Choreographer's Showcase. The flamenco class I took was great, but boy, I was sore the next day after all that stomping and hyper-extending your reach to the back.  The showcase was interesting, but it reminded me why I do not do modern dance (besides the fact that I don't have the body for it).  Two of the pieces made me feel completely tense and twitchy.  I did not  enjoy watching them - in fact, one of the pieces I couldn't wait for it to be over!

Bright and early on Sunday morning I headed off to meet my parents for the long road trip to Nebraska and my Uncle Herb's funeral.  We got there just in time to change clothes, eat a sandwich and go to the funeral home for the visitation. Both Aidin and Eliot fell asleep at the funeral home, which was amusing. 

Sunday night we went out to my grandma's farm for a family dinner and then over to the "tavern" - the only thing in the tiny town of Cushing - to have a drink to Herb.  We were easily amused by the selection of taxidermy in the bar.  Yes, that is a thong on the bull's horn.  There was also a raccoon in a beer tree. Many of us signed the wall in the bar with a Sharpie provided by the bartender.

I'm so glad that I went.  I hadn't seen my Aunt or some of my cousins for almost 15 years.  And my Aunts and Uncles on that side of the family are a hoot, so it was good to spend time with them.  My children had never been to Grandma Gloria's farm, so I was anxious to share my memories of that special place with them.  Her living room is straight out of the late 60's.  And there are at least five of us grandkids that want that orange chair! 

The funeral was Sunday.  We went back out to the farm so I could take some daylight pictures and then headed home.  We left at 2:00.  I pulled into my driveway at 10:00.  It was a long day.  More pictures of our trip to Nebraska, including some amusing road signs, are here.

I did manage to do a wee bit of crafting in the car. These are my patches for Faun's Embroidered Patch Swap.  Of course they were due today and I'm only sending them out today.  Whoops!  I started with the poppy patch and it took ENTIRELY TOO LONG to do, so you can see by the skill involved in the other two that I simplified.  I draw alligators and trains for Eliot all the time, so these are embroidered versions of my free-hand drawings for my child.  Thankfully, Eliot didn't see the train patch, or he would have wanted to keep it for himself.  Since I'm sending three, I should get three in return.

And now I'm freaking out a bit.  This weekend our friend Shaun is coming up to stay and go with Tim to the KU/K-State game on Saturday and the Chief's game on Sunday.  And our house is a WRECK! 

And Thanksgiving is NEXT WEEK!  Have I even THOUGHT about Thanksgiving yet?  Have I bought a turkey?  Or two turkeys as the case may be?  And of course I had plans for little Thanksgiving favors/place cards/something hand made to give to everyone - 18 people.  I'm thinkin' that's no going to happen.

And on a final note, have you seen the new Cutting Edge Magazine?  One of my favorite bloggers is featured!  RUN out and buy a copy!  Now!

Cheers! 

   

Hi, I'm Lori...

... I used to write a blog.

Wow!  Has it really been a week since I posted?  I've been busy, honest, I have.  Just no time to post - although I've spent plenty of time on flickr this week.

A little recap.  Okay, it probably won't really be little so either get comfortable or move on to the next blog.

Thursday was the Pumpkin Hunt for Aidin's class at school. It was basically an Easter Egg hunt with pumpkins, so the level of difficulty was rather low.  Fun.  I helped with face painting.  The kids also painted on gourds, which I was originally signed up to help with, but there were plenty of other parents helping so I quickly moved to an activity that allowed ME to be in control of the paint.  I had visions of tempra all over my suede coat.  Luckily with the face painting, no one requested anything too detailed.  Well, one kid did request SpiderMan - I talked him into a bat instead.  (And so you know, I didn't take the picture of Aidin - another parent e-mailed it to me because when I got out my camera to take a picute I realized my SD card was still in the computer.  Good one, Mom!)  We carved Aidin's hunted pumpkin, which was already a little rotton inside, so it is in sad shape now, a week later.

Friday the kids had the day off school.  We went to Topeka and had lunch with one set of grandparents, went to Toys R Us (one of my LEAST favorite stores) for a crib-sized mattress pad and found rain boots on sale.  We needed new rain boots as Aidin's mysteriously walked off the porch at school and Eliot had an unfortunate accident in his that made them a bio-hazard.  Ewww.  And to commiserate with Lera, while we were trying on boots I turned around an Eliot had an orange M&M in his mouth that he found.  Double ewww!  We also went to the Girl Scout office and bought 7 sets of uniforms/badges/books/pins.  Thrilling, isn't it?  Are you still reading this?

Saturday it POURED all day.  Which meant no trip to the pumpkin patch, AGAIN!  Drat!  I did take Aidin to ballet Saturday morning and then stopped in to see Jill at Farmer's Market.  What a wet, dismal day.  But I got lovely produce - salad turnips, radishes, kale and tomatoes.  And the kids had a ball puddle-jumping in their new rain boots.

Saturday night Tim and I went to a concert of Near Eastern music by Simon Shaheen and Dr. AJ Racy.  Spellbinding.  The kids spent the night at Grandma's so I made another trip to Topeka to drop them off.  I actually went out for a drink with my girlfriends after the concert and didn't get home until 1:00 a.m.  Wow!  That never happens!

Sunday Tim took off at 8:00 a.m. for the Chiefs game and I started sewing.  I put together my skirt for halloween.  It took forever to gather a 10 yard ruffle on the bottom of a circle skirt, but I did it and LOVE the way it turned out.  I can't wait to dance in it - because you know I can't just make a costume without it having some other use (aka for bellydancing).  I also got my cloak/cape with sleeves cut out, but still have yet to stitch a seam.  And halloween is WHEN? 

Aidin had a birthday party Sunday afternoon, so I whipped together another notebook/pencil roll/tote bag set.  Okay, whipped together does not accurately describe the process.  The fabric (which you may recognize from here) was a stripe that was not printed on the grain, so if I cut it on grain, the stripes looked wonky but if I cut it on the stripes, the folds were wonky.  I settled for something inbetween.  I hope the four year old recipient won't notice or care.  Two more birthday parties on November 4th, so more of these are in my immediate future.

Back into the work/school week we have met ourselves coming and going.  Dinner has been mac and cheese out of the box and leftovers.  Tuesday we had our Daisy Girl Scout meeting and had a Birthday Party for Juliette "Daisy" Low.  The girls all brought "presents" for the troop - scissors, glue sticks, paper, etc.  We learned a little about Daisy, played pin the badge on Daisy, and topped it off with chocolate cupcakes iced with daisies on top.  Yum.  One little girl spent the whole meeting time asking, "when do we get the cupcakes?"  I hated to admit, I agreed.

Last night we finally said "hang the pumpkin patch" and went to Hy-Vee to buy pumpkins.  They were all huge!!  And when can we carve them?  I had to race off to belly dance at a restaurnat last night.  So, because we've all seen so little of each other this week we decided to forego the two halloween parties we have been invited to on Saturday night (sorry Alicia!) and have family pumpkin carving time.  On tonight's agenda is Pizza Shuttle and a classic on TV.  Tomorrow pumpkin carving.  Sunday, finishing up costumes and Trunk or Treat at my parents' church.

And finally, the big highlights of the week have been the goodness I've received in the mail.

A lovely parcel from Molly.  I have wanted one of her pendants and button sets for a long time.  You can get your own in her shop.

My tea towel swap from Monique.  Such lovely things from the Netherlands.  A vintage hand-embroidered blue and white dutuch cloth, lovely new towels embelished by Monique and a dishcloth that she knitted that is so pretty I don't think I'll ever be able to get it wet.  Thank you, Monique.  I love it all!

Monique got her parcel from me last week, and I've just realized I never posted a picture of what I sent her, so here's a look at that.  I embroidered the dancing spoons from an Aunt Martha patterm - the rest was vintage.  Thanks, Jackie, for organizing!

An envelope from Laurie containing these, which will figure into my nephews' Christmas presents.

And lastly, my Bird ATC swap from Kristen containing the most stunning ATCs from Kristen, Jaci, Stephanie, Selena, Veronica and Michelle. Thank you all for your lovely handiwork.

As Tess said in her latest post, Fall in Kansas = rain and more rain.  So here's this week's Fall Friday pictue.  (Okay, I took it yesterday, but today looks pretty much the same.)

And now on to another week of tricks and treats and sewing and hugging and loving and drawing and dreaming and reading...  Happy weekend, friends.

Banned no more

Wow!  This has been one stressful week.  Stressful because I've had little time to work on the things I should be working on, and little motivation as well.  And I've had so many things I've wanted to blog about!  You would think that would motivate me. 

But MY costume for this weekend is finished, as of midnight last night.  Man, I'm fat.  And white.  What am I thinking - wearing this in public AND posting it on the internet? 

Anyway, I had to cut down the skirt and split it, cut down the pants, make the vest, and attach the hip scarf to a belt base - which doesn't seem like that much - I mean, it's not like I had to start from scratch with the whole costume, but it took me plenty of time just the same.

I started sewing Tim's shirt last night and got the shoulder seams and the neck facing sewn.  When I turned the facing it was all bunchy - and by that time it was 1:00 a.m. - so I decided it might look better today.

Of course, we've had other things going on this week, like bidding Great-Grandpa Adieu.  He returned to Arizona after his high school reunion on Wednesday morning.  So Tuesday night we trekked over to Topeka to see him one last time.    The Mexican restaurant we visited offered "live" entertainment, in the form of a dancing, squawking rubber chicken.  The kids were quite amused.  Check out my nephew, Nathan, cracking up in the background. 

Bye, bye, Grandpa.  We can't wait to see you again!

And, of course, I couldn't ONLY work on Ren Fest costumes this week.  I also HAD to make Eliot a new shirt.

And take pictures for A Year of Color.

And ride bikes with the kids.  And read the newspaper.  And get the mail.  And download more things to make.  And tonight at 5:00, the Budweiser Clydsdales will be parading up Mass Street.  So we've gotta see that!

And tomorrow morning, at 8:00 a.m., Aidin and I will be on our way to RenFest, with Tim and Eliot to follow later in the day.  Hope for cooler temperatures and no rain during daylight hours.  I'll give the report on Monday.  Maybe I'll see some of you there!

Cheers!  And have a great weekend!

This week....

has been a doozy.  Work - insanely busy as I am doing my job and part of my friend's job while she is on maternity leave.  And speaking of maternity leave, I received notice today of two more new babes in the world.  Anna was born to my friend Alice in the Cech Republic on 8/2 and yesterday little Marilena arrived in Montreal.

Wednesday night we had friends over for dinner.  Two couples and their kids.  We were going to grill hamburgers, hotdogs and corn, but it was too dang hot!  So the George Foreman got a workout. 

The kids had a ball together, the guys talked conspiracy theory (Laura, you and your family would have fit right in - next time I'm inviting you guys too!) and the chicks sat in the kitchen and talked crafts.   I turned my friend, MIchelle on to Wee Wonderfuls and she told me about Sublime Stitching!  I'm ordering patterns, people!  A great evening!  Thanks!

I also want to thank my wrislet swap partner, Carmen, for my great parcel of goodies.  The beautiful beachy wristlet with sea oats embroidered on it - we are so in need of some beach here in Kansas!  She also made me a bag to carry small sewing supplies in and a tissue holder made from fun fabric that I had commented on previously.  I love those little girls in kimonos.  Thank you so much, Carmen!  And thank you Kelli for sponsoring the swap.  I am still working on my swap, so Autum, it will get there!  Eventually!  I  promise!  I hope to finish up tonight and mail it tomorrow.  I made her a CD to include yesterday at work and listened to it this morning - it skipped all over the place.  Grrrrrr....  Damn new cd burner.  I guess I'll just skip that little part and send the other goodies I've made/am making/have collected. ;)

And can I just brag for a minute about my sweet boy?  Of course, I can, it is my blog and I can say  whatever I want.  Doesn't mean you have to read it, but there you go.  Eliot brought this home from school this week.  His first sewing project.  Button sewn to felt.  I want to frame it!  He was so proud of himself and I was so proud of him.  Potty trained and sewing at 2 1/2!  I would have never thought it possible!

Have a great weekend!